Mobile communications and standards dynamics1

This paper addresses the changing role that standards play in achieving interoperability and stability. It starts with a discussion of what standards dynamics means in this context which it explores in terms of a drive towards dominant design in technology markets. Here, the paper distinguishes two main levels of standards dynamics. The first level involves adaptation of an individual standard when it is 'launched' and its subsequent interaction in the particular implementation environment. The second level involves higher order dynamics of the standard system in its adaptation to overall industry dynamics (involving technological factors, market factors, regulatory factors, etc). The paper goes on to look at three distinct cases of 'standards dynamics' in this light. © 2005 IEEE.